/*
 * $Id: NumericGenerator.java 65 2008-04-23 12:51:50Z alex@opoo.org $
 *
 * Copyright 2005 the original author or authors.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
 * use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
 * the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
 * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
 * the License.
 */
package org.opoo.lang;

/**
 * Interface to return a new sequential number for each call.
 *
 * @author Scott Battaglia
 */
public interface NumericGenerator {

    /**
     * Method to retrieve the next number as a String.
     *
     * @return the Strign representation of the next number in the sequence
     */
    String getNextNumberAsString();

    /**
     * The guaranteed maximum length of a String returned by this generator.
     *
     * @return the maximum length
     */
    int maxLength();

    /**
     * The guaranteed minimum length of a String returned by this generator.
     *
     * @return the minimum length.
     */
    int minLength();
}
